The field of the invention is painting and the invention relates more particularly to painting by means of a roller which is loaded by the use of a paint tray.
Paint trays are commonly used without any liner at all and are typically cleaned by pouring excess paint into the original paint can and then brushing out excess paint followed by a wiping or solvent cleaning step. This process is not only time consuming but also leaves a small amount of paint which can contaminate and discolor later painting processes. A preferable process involves the use of a vacuum formed, thin, rigid plastic liner of the type generally shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,902. Such liner is placed within the paint tray and closely conforms to the shape of the paint tray. When the painting job is finished, the excess paint within the liner is poured out of the liner into the original paint can and the liner discarded. The pouring out process is a slow one particularly for a relatively thick paint and the liner now becomes a potential source of paint spillage if not carefully discarded. Also, the liners can become cracked and take up storage space. A flexible, plastic liner is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,922,176 but this requires a specially designed paint tray and does not provide an efficient means of discarding or transferring excess paint.